Following the inspiration had during a visit to Parque Guell of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, later reinforced by the visit to Bomarzo garden, Niki de Saint Phalle begins construction of the Tarot Garden in 1979 identifying in the garden the magical dream of his  life. Niki de Saint Phalle has dedicated itself to the construction of the twenty-two impressive figures of steel and concrete covered with glass, mirrors and colorful ceramics for more than seventeen years, accompained, by several specialized workers, and by a team of famous names contemporary art as Rico Weber, Sepp Imhof, Paul Wiedmer, Dok van Winsen, Pierre and Marie Isabelle Le Jeune, Alan Davie, Marino Karella and especially by her husband Jean Tinguely, who died in 1991, who created the metal structures of the enormous sculptures.

 

 

The Swiss architect Mario Botta, in collaboration with architect Roberto Aureli Grosseto, designed the pavilion entrance – a thick wall of fence with a single large circular opening in the center, thought of as a threshold that divides the garden from everyday reality .

Finished in the summer of 1996, the construction of the Garden entailed, in addition to a huge work, a cost of about 10 billion lire entirely self-financed by the author.

In 1997 Niki de Saint Phalle has created the Foundation The Tarot Garden, whose purpose is to preserve and maintain the work realized. On 15 May 1998, the Tarot Garden was opened to the public.

 

 

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